Thorns on a rose
by Me8an
Summary: A Johnlock, Beauty and the Beast type AU, with bits of Smauglock thrown in. At least that's plan so far. John as Belle, Sherlock as Beast with most of the main characters from Sherlock crossing over to be the main characters from Beauty and the Beast.
1. Prolog

Once upon a time, in a faraway land, a young prince lived in a shining castle with his older brother and their parents. The young prince had everything that his heart desired. He was a very clever boy who loved nothing more than reading any book he could and conducting all sorts of experiments. He loved being around everyone, watching what they wear doing and learning everything he could from them, expectantly his parents and older brother who he looked up to more than anyone. They were very happy for quite some time, but those good times were not to last.

When the young prince was but eight years old his parents were in a tragic accident on their way home from a foreign land. The King and Queen died along with a number of their servants and soldiers who had gone along with them. It was now up to the princes to take care of the castle and the remaining staff there. The young prince's older brother took great strides to keep things running smoothly in their home; try as he might though the castle fell onto hard times.

Both brothers grieved for all that they lost in their own ways. The young prince locked himself away with his once much loved books and experiments, trying with all his might to shut his heart out and distract his mind. He grew cold to all those around him, building a wall around himself which no one could penetrate. Everyone in the castle could see the changes from the happy curious boy that they all knew. He became hard, distant, selfish , and unkind. Though everyone wished to, none knew how to help the young prince.

His brother wanted more then anyone for his brother to be back to how he used to be and tried giving him anything he wanted in hopes that it would help, but help it did not. The older brother too, started to send more and more time away within his own study alone. He had failed to keep his parents safe, he had failed to help his little brother, and he was failing to keep the castle going. He closed himself off from others as well, burying himself in his work.

As the years went by things only grew worse within the castle. The older brother rarely left his study; talking to no one except the captain of the guards and the chief of staff, so absorbed was he with his work. It was the younger brother though that most considered worse off. He was now a young man at the age of fifteen, but his attitude was no better than that of when he was eight, in fact he had only grown worse. He had succeeded in closing off his heart and often went around the castle in a deep sulk, snapping at anyone who dared to get in his way or try to deter him when he was in the midst of an experiment. He was rude to all and everyone had grown to be truly wary of him, scared of what he had become.

One cold stormy night there was a loud knock at the door. Unfortunately for the person on the other side, it was the young prince who went to open the door. Now normally the prince would not have bothered with something so appallingly mundane as to answering a knock at the door, but as it happens that knock had startled him from where he had been in the next room over conducting an experiment by the fire and causing him to mess said experiment up. With his experiment now ruined, and in a truly bad mood, the prince stomped over to the doors and threw them open with a loud slam.

On the other side of the door stood an old woman holding out a single rose. She offered the young prince the rose in return for shelter for the night. Sneering at the rose and repulsed by the woman's haggard appearance the prince turned his nose up at her and turned her away; but she warned him though not be deceived by appearances, for beauty is found within. Utterly bored with all this and only growing more annoyed by the second, the prince once again dismissed the woman. Ready to be done with all this nonsense he started to close the door on her, Only it was then that her appearance changed, the old woman's haggard appearance melting away to reveal a beautiful enchantress. The prince tried to apologize, to explain that he had been too distracted to notice who she really was, but it was too late. For the enchantress had seen that there was no love in his heart. As punishment she transformed him into a hideous beast and placed a powerful spell over the castle and all who lived within.

Ashamed of his monstrous form and his inability to see what had been right in front of him, the beast concealed himself inside of his castle, a magic mirror his only window to the outside world. The rose was truly an enchanted rose, which would bloom until his twenty-fifth year. If he could learn to love another, and earn their love in return by the time the last petal fell, then the spell would be broken. If not, he would be doomed to remain a beast for all time.

The prince tried everything he could think of to dispel the curse; doing more experiments than he could count on himself, the rose, and the others; reading every book in the house to try to learn something, anything that could help but alas it was all for not. As the years passed he eventually gave up trying and fell into deep despair, losing all hope. For who could ever learn to love a beast?


	2. Chapter 1

**A/N**

Okay so hello! Um I've never really done any of this before so please forgive any beginners mistakes that I may make, up until now I've been strictly a reader but I just couldn't get this idea out of my head :p Alright now that that's out of the way I really hope you all enjoy this, I've tried to keep the Sherlock characters from being too OOC while fitting them to the Beauty and the Beast role I think works best. Like everyone else on here, I own nothing and receive only the satisfaction that others have enjoyed reading this. I believe that was everything I had to say so thank you for reading and enjoy the story!

Through the woods and down a ways, not too far off from the now cursed castle, was a little house. That house sat up on a hill overlooking a quaint little village. there was a path that wound down from the house and ran into the town. On that path there is a young man headed in the direction of the village. The man has short golden blonde hair that shines brightly in the sun, big blue eyes that sparkled like sapphires, perfectly straight white teeth behind perfect pouty red lips, all upon a beautiful round face and a gorgeously sculpted body; truly the only critique one might have to say about him would be that he is a bit on the short side, being only five foot six inches. All agreed, though short he may be he was without a doubt the most handsome man around, so beautiful was he that people even took to calling him Belle. The man though, that Belle, preferred to be called by his name, John.

He is not like most of the others in town. John wishes for adventure and excitement in his life, to go and explore the world, to fight and to heal and to truly live. But for now he stays in this small place with his sister Harry.

John and his sister had moved to this village about five years ago, when John was the ripe age of twenty and his sister sixteen. Though still quite young Harry hard a real problem, she loved to drink. She just drank and drank and didn't stop until she was passed out, no matter where that may be. Her drinking and subsequent passing out had caused many problem in there old town, and the people there had started talking bad about all of them. That was when their father had kicked them out, well he had kicked Harry out but John didn't feel right about leaving his sister alone and defenseless, especially when she had such a problem and needed help. So the two of them had left and haven't looked back since.

They wander around a bit from town to town, all the while John trying to keep Harry sober. Those where a tough few months, but then they happened upon this village and the house they live in now. There were some ups and downs here as well, a few times that Harry fell off the wagon and people talked. Everyone judges them for those times, calling Harry crazy and a loon, but recently things have been looking up for them. Harry hasn't had a drink for near on a year now (not that you would know that from listening to the town gossip, to them she will always be the crazy town drunk) and she's even met someone in the next village over. John is really quite proud of his sister and very happy for her.

He hopes that maybe once her life gets settled down he can finally go out and do all that he dreams too. Until that time though he has his books to hold him over and keep him content. Living vicariously through the characters, experiencing through them the wonders that he craves or learning something new, whether that be how to fend off attackers or learning how to stitch someone up if the need ever arises, he can never learn enough. Yes, John loves reading more than most anything else.

Today John was headed into the village to exchange the book he had just finished for a new one to read. He thought about this village now calls home as he walks, 'Little town, full of little people . Everyday like the one before. Every morning just the same since the morning that we came to this poor provincial town.'

"Good Morning Belle!" A voice pulled John from his thoughts. Looking up he saw Angelo, the baker opening his store.

"Morning" John replied.

"Where are you off to?"

"The book shop. I just finished the most wonderful story about men in the desert, fighting, trying to win a grand battle to get the prize…"

"That's nice," Angelo cuts him off looking toward the back of the shop "Sarah the baguettes, hurry up!"

With a small smile and a shake of his head John turned to continue on his way, but not before hearing Sarah as she started to talk to Angelo in what John was sure was supposed to be a whisper but carried enough for him to hear nonetheless "There he goes again, that boy is strange no question. Dazed and distracted can you tell? Never part of any crowd cause his heads up in the clouds, no denying he's a funny boy that Belle."

John sighed as he kept walking. It wasn't the first time he's heard someone talk about him like that, not even close. He had heard similar talk from most everyone whenever he went into town, he was quite use to it by now, but it did get tiresome. 'Is it really so strange to dream of bigger things?' John thought to himself as he walked into the book shop. 'There must be more then this provincial life.'

"Ah, John" Mike greeted him with a smile. Mike Stamford was the owner of the only book store in town, and he was one of the few people John was genuinely friendly with and consider a friend.

"Good morning Mike. I've come to return the book I borrowed."

"Finished already?" Mike asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh, I couldn't put it down. Have you got anything new?" John inquired as he started looking through stack of books nearest to him.

"Not since yesterday" Mike answered with a laugh.

"That's okay," John said picking out a book from the self he had been looking through "I'll borrow this one." John handed the book to Mike.

"That one" Mike exclaimed with a smile, looking down at the book in his hands "But you've read it twice."

"Well its my favorite. Far off places, daring sword fights, magic spells, a prince in disguise!"

Chuckling at John's grand explanation, Mike hands the book back over to him "If you like it all that much its yours."

With a shocked face John looked down at the book now back in his hands and then up into the smiling face of his friend "But Mike…"

"I insist"

"Well thank you" John says with a huge grin on his face as he heads out the door "Thank you so very much." As soon as he got out the door John opened his new book and started to read it as he walked back toward the path that would lead him back home.

A little ways up the road from John was Jim Moriarty, the best hunter in all the town, and one of the most sought after people by me and women alike.

"Wow Jim, you didn't miss a shot. You're the greatest hunter in the whole world!" Cried out Sebastian Moran, Jim's trusty sidekick (or minion, depending on who you asked).

"I know" Jim answered back with not one shred of doubt, a smug smile upon his face.

"Heh no beast alive stands a chance against you, and no person either for that matter" Sebastian giggled.

"Its true and I've got my sights set on him" Jim pointed to where John had just passed in front of them, counting to read his book, not even noticing the two men.

"Who the drunk's brother" Sebastian scoffed.

"He's the one. The lucky man I'm going to marry."

"But he's…"

"The most beautiful person in town."

"I know but…"

"That makes him the best and don't I deserve the best" Jim's tone had gotten darker and he stared down at Sebastian with a look that just dared him to disagree.

"Well of course" Sebastian stammered "I mean of course you do, but, its just…"

Jim cut off the rambling" Right from the moment that I met him, saw him, I said 'He's perfect' and I fell. Here in town there's only he, who is beautiful as me, so I'm making plans to woo and marry Belle." As he finished talking, Jim ran after John to catch up and talk to him, passing by a group of three who stared after him longingly.

"Look there he goes, isn't he dreamy?" Irene Adler gossiped with her two friends.

"Mr. Moriarty, oh he's so cute!" Phillip Anderson practically squealed.

"Be still my heart, I'm hardly breathing" Sally Donovan sighed "He's such a strong"

"Dark" Irene purred.

"Handsome brute" Phillip finished the thought as all three watched with envy as Jim starting talking to John.

"Hello John."

"Hello Jim" John said distractedly as he was still absorbed in reading his book and walking home. Jim, seeing that his attention was on something other than him, grabbed the book out of John's hands. John stopped and looked up at Jim now holding the book above his head "Jim may I have my book back please?"

"How can you read this?" Jim asked flipping through the pages "There's no pictures."

"Well some people use their imaginations." John scoffed.

"John, its time you got your head out of those books and paid attention to more important things" Jim flashed John a smile "Like me." Irene, Phillip, and Sally all melted on the spot where they stood eavesdropping, neither Jim nor John noticing them as Jim continued "The whole towns talking about it. Its not right reading all these books, getting grand ideas about going out on adventures and the like" Jim made what could only be described as a disgusted face as the very thought.

"Jim you are positively primeval" John said sarcastically as he finally managed to grab his book back.

"Why thank you John" Jim said, having not noticed the tone with which John had used "What do you say you and me take a walk over to the tavern and take a look at my trophies?"

"Maybe some other time" John replied with a frown, trying to walk past him even as Jim continually blocked his way.

"What's wrong with him?" Irene spat.

"He's crazy" Phillip agreed.

"He's gorgeous" Sally sighed again looking at Jim. They all went back to watching the interaction between the two as John spoke again, "Please Jim, I cant, I have to get home to my sister."

"That crazy loon" Sebastian exclaimed laughing as he walked up to stand beside Jim "She needs all the help she can get!" Both Sebastian and Jim now laughing hard.

"Don't talk about my sister that way!" John yelled angrily.

"Yeah don't talk about his sister that way." Jim managed to contain his chuckles and gave Sebastian a smack to the back of the head.

"I'll have you know Harry's doing great. She hasn't had a drink in almost a year, and is even leaving this afternoon to see a suiter" John defended his sister with a bit of a smug grin as he thought about how well his sister was doing, feeling quite proud.

It was of course right then that a loud explosion was heard, unmistakably coming from the direction of John's and Harry's house. Everyone looked up towards the house on the hill where they could see a cloud of smoke rising into the sky. John's face paled "Oh no, Harry" he whispered as he raced off up the path, leaving behind Jim and Sebastian now doubled over in their laughter.


End file.
